Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele announced today the arrest of James Batt, 66, of Flourtown, for the theft of more than $3.7 million from Alice Lineman, who died at age 92 on August 29, 2019.
According to the report, Batt was a friend of Lineman and was named the executor and trustee of her will but never dispersed the funds. He was one of the largest beneficiaries of her estate at 45 percent.
The thefts came to the attention of officials when two of Lineman’s relatives and beneficiaries filed suit in the Montgomery County Orphans’ Court. On March 20, 2023, Batt was removed as Trustee of the Living Trust of Alice Lineman by a judge, who also ordered Batt to appear and to turn over estate assets. When Batt refused, the judge found Batt in contempt of court in 2023 and again on March 19, 2025, when the judge also issued a warrant for his arrest.
The judge then referred the case to the District Attorney’s Office.
A subsequent investigation by the Montgomery County Detective Bureau found that Batt was aware of her senile dementia, which required a live-in aide to help her with all daily activities. The investigation found that prior to her death, Batt made $30,003 in personal expenditures on Lineman’s American Express account, changed the mailing address for the account to his Flourtown residence, and added his significant other as an authorized user on the account.
Bank records showed that Batt had withdrawn $884,743 from Lineman’s Wells Fargo account and $156,068 from her Morgan Stanley account.
Following her death, between 2019 and 2022, Batt wrote 139 checks, payable to himself, from the Wells Fargo account, totaling $592,400. He also made charges, transfers and wrote checks from the Morgan Stanley account, totaling $1,384,435. Transactions totaling $490,632 were additionally made by Batt on the American Express account after her death.
The total amount of Batt’s unauthorized transactions from Lineman’s account before and after her death, totaled $3,715,318. The investigation found that much of the money was spent on extravagant travel, hotels, gourmet restaurants, theater tickets, wine and spirits, shopping at high-end stores and plastic surgery.
With the exception of one $150,000 payment to a beneficiary named in Lineman’s will, Batt did not distribute the estate as directed by Lineman and as required under Pennsylvania law.
“This defendant took advantage of an elderly woman suffering from senile dementia by stealing more than $3.7 million from her and from her estate, thereby draining the assets available to Ms. Lineman, her estate and her heirs,” said DA Steele. “Through our prosecution of this egregious crime, we will hold Batt accountable for living extravagantly on money that should have gone to Ms. Lineman’s family.”
Batt is charged with multiple felonies, including Financial Exploitation of an Older Adult, Theft by Unlawful Taking, Receiving Stolen Property, Misapplication of Entrusted Property and Theft by Failure to Make Required Dispositions. He was arraigned on April 21 before Magisterial District Judge Dara A. Nasatir, who set bail at $99,000 cash. At a bail review hearing, Court of Common Pleas Judge Wendy G. Rothstein left the bail unchanged and added a provision regarding the source of bail money to make sure that Batt could not use funds from Lineman’s estate. Batt was unable to make bail and was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:30am on May 6 before Magisterial District Judge Katherine E. McGill. The case will be prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Gwendolyn Kull, Captain of the Economic Crimes Unit.